------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We should and must remember the Second World War as the scale of it has
never
been experienced before. The discrimination against peoples because of race, colour
or creed can not be
regarded as a good or honourable thing.
In particular it should be
remembered
that so many ordinary citizens
in particular those living in Central and Eastern
Europe - From the Baltic Sea to The Black Sea,
From Berlin to Moscow - suffered at the
hands of both The Nazi German and Soviet Russian Regimes.
The scale and brutality of
'the War in Eastern Europe' was barbaric in it's
nature.Whilst it was the Jewish population
that was most damaged by The Holocaust in numbers, all the peoples
were badly affected
by The War, Be they ordinary Germans, Poles, those from the Baltic Nations,
Russian and
Ukrainian civilians, Gypsies or captured soldiers or housewives or little children
or all those
who were in the Far East, from China, Burma, The Pacific Islands, anywhere
in the world
where the great tragedies have occured......................all of
them deserve that we remember.

There were thousands of camps and
subcamps
created by the Germans and it is not possible to
include them all - However, These are some of the others.Arbeitsdorf, Germany
Kaiserwald, (Riga) Latvia
Klooga, Estonia
Plaszow, Poland
Vaivara, Latvia
Vught, The Netherlands
Westerbork, The Netherlands

-----------------------------------------------------------The Different Identifying badges used

Yellow

Jew

A chart of prisoner markings.— KZ Gedenkstaette Dachau

Brown

Gypsy

Violet

Jehovah's Witness

Pink

Homosexual

Green

Habitual criminal

Red

Political prisoner

Black

Asocial

Blue

Emigrant

The "Asocial" category
was, perhaps, the most diverse, including prostitutes, vagrants, murderers,
thieves, lesbians, and those who violated laws prohibiting sexual intercourse
between Aryans and Jews. In addition, while the brown triangle was used for
gypsies under certain circumstances, they were more often forced to wear the
black triangle categorizing them as "asocials."

Some patches included letters on the triangles to further distinguish among the
various groups in the camps. Most commonly, the letter indicated nationality,
e.g., "F" for franzosisch (French), "P" for polnisch
(Polish), "T" for tschechisch (Czech), etc., but it could also
denote special sub-categories of prisoners. For example, the white letter
"A" on a black triangle signified a labor disciplinary prisoner (Arbeitserziehungshaftling),
while a black "S" on a green triangle identified a strafthaft,
or penal prisoner. In addition, the word Blod on a black triangle marked
mentally retarded inmates, and a red and white target symbol set apart those who
had tried to escape.

For Jewish offenders, triangles of two different colors were combined to create
a six-pointed star, one triangle yellow to denote a Jew, the second triangle
another color to denote the added offense. For example, a Jewish criminal would
wear a yellow triangle overlaid by a green one; Jewish homosexuals wore pink
triangles over yellow.

Outside the camps, the occupying Nazi forces ordered Jews to wear patches or
armbands marked with the star of David, though the specific characteristics of
the badge (size, shape, color) varied by region. For example, some yellow stars
were marked with a large "J" in the center, while elsewhere the
patches had "Jude" (or "Jood," "Juif," etc.)
stitched in the middle. Those who failed to wear the star were subject to arrest
and deportation, a fate that frightened most Jews into compliance even though
the patch subjected them to restrictions, harassment, and isolation.

For more information about the history of the
requirement that Jews wear a distinctive marking or sign, including during the
Nazi period, see the entry "Badge, Jewish" in the Encyclopaedia
Judaica, Volume 4 (Jerusalem: Macmillan, 1972), pp. 62-73.

-----------------------------------------------------------
How were the prisoners tattooed in the concentration camps?

"The concentration camp at
Auschwitz was the only one to tattoo prisoners for identification. The
underlying cause was the high death rate among the prisoners, which sometimes
surpassed several hundred in a single day. With such a large number of deaths,
there were difficulties in identifying all the corpses. If the clothes with the
camp number were removed from the corpse, one could no longer establish what the
number of the deceased had been. At the camp hospital (Haftlingskrankenbau,
HKB), where many prisoners died, the staff began to write ill prisoner's
camp numbers on their chests with indelible ink. Difficulties in identifying
corpses increased in...1941, when the mass extermination of Soviet
prisoners-of-war began. It was then that the camp administration decided to
adopt tattooing, which was first used with several thousand Soviet
prisoners-of-war. They were tattooed with a special metal stamp that held
interchangeable numbers composed of needles around 1 cm long. This stamp -- when
applied to the upper portion of the left breast -- allowed the entire number to
be tattooed at once. Next, ink was rubbed into the bleeding wounds. The POWs to
be tattooed were so weak that they had to be propped up against the wall so they
would not fall down while the number was being applied. In March 1942, the staff
began to tattoo in a similar fashion emaciated prisoners at KL Birkenau, whose
state of health pointed to rapid death. (Only several Poles with numbers
tattooed on their chests during this period survived the camp.)

"Since the metal stamp turned out to be impractical, tattooing was later
carried out by puncturing the skin on the left forearm with individual needles.
The puncture marks would form the individual digits of the camp number. Jewish
prisoners began to be tattooed in this fashion at Birkenau as early as 1942. In
spring 1943 the camp administration ordered that all prisoners -- both
previously-registered prisoners and new arrivals -- be tattooed with camp
numbers. A number of German prisoners and so-called "reformatory
prisoners" (Erziehungshaftlinge) received no tattoo. Several
categories of prisoners were tattooed with an additional symbol before the
number -- e.g., Jews (but not all of them) with a triangular symbol; Gypsies,
with the letter "Z" (the first letter of the German word Zigeuner or
"Gypsy"); and beginning in May 1944, Jews received an additional
letter, "A" or "B", which signified the particular series of
numbers being used at the time. For unknown reasons, prisoners from several
transports in 1943 were tattooed with camp numbers on the inside of their left
shoulder.

"Once they were tattooed, prisoners were identified by the camp number on
their forearms. At Birkenau, the corpses of deceased prisoners were laid in
front of the housing blocks in such fashion that the prisoner's left hands and
tattooed camp numbers were visible."

A story worth
listening to and watching....................
The story of Irene Hizmo and her twin brother Rene Slotkin
after being sent as 4 year olds to Theresienstadt in the Czech
Republic and then
afterwards to Auschwitz in Poland, they were amongst the
approx 3000 Twins who were experimented on by Dr Joseph Mengele
of which only about 160 pairs of twins survived the end of the war .

Their story, during
and after the war is a tremendous and sad history,
yet they did survive and did become united again in 1952 and did
become married
and had children an grandchildren and must be a great inspiration
for
all of us to keep surving with hope that life will improve.

Holocaust Memorial Day HMD (60 th Anniversary of the freeing of Aushwitz, 27 January 2005)
(60 th anniversary of the freeing of Dachau/Buchenwald, April 2005)
( 60 th Anniversary of the freeing of Bergen-Belsen, 15
April 2005)

The Dharfu Region of Sudan is becoming another example
of
why The United Nations must take more direct action to ensure
the safety of people. It is not good enough to sit down talking
and making fact finding missions whilst ordinary people are being
terrorised , raped and murdered. The African Nations are also being
ineffective in their actions and should be taking more action to help.
Direct action is justified to help the many victims

ZimbabweIt is about time that The Governments in Africa openly
condemned the disgraceful methods being used by Robert Mugabe .
It is clear to everyone that many people in Zimbabwe are deliberatly
being disadvantaged to prevent democracy flourishing there.

Guantanomo BayThe USA must also abide by International laws and morality
and perhaps The Government would receive better understanding
by actually showing the world that it is. Whilst understanding the fears
and
the reasons behind their actions, The USA must set a good example
and most importantly, must be seen to be doing so !

LebanonThe destruction of Lebanon by
the Israeli Military and Hizbollah
Both must take the resonsibility and blame for this .

Palestine/ Middle EastIt is about time that the people stopped squabbling and started
working together. The whole Middle East area could develop a great
tourist industry which would assist in creating work and wealth creation
For the people to start to build a better life for everyone there - but
until
there is stability this will never happen and the ordinary people will continue
to suffer.

Afghanistan & IraqAfghanistan and Iraq have chances to establish genuine democratic
systems
and to create better chances for their peoples. It is such a
frustration
to see how the extremists are doing their best to prevent this from happening.
Why are they so scared of the ballot box and alloweing a free vote ?

North Korea Perhaps it is time to allow Democracy to be invited into this closed country
Perhaps it is time to open these doors and allow the people there some choice.

USA
USA is probably being very genuine in it's intentions regarding the 'War on
Terror'
and it is fair to suggest that the motivation and the reasoning behind it is
reasonable,
that I am symphathetic and understanding this situation is there
too, however..................
I also strongly believe that USA must be clear in setting an example and
must
be clear in being correct morally and ethically and must be seen to be
clean at all levels.
Sadly this is not the case and this failure by USA is damaging to the
cause of justice.

'Extraordinary Rendition' and the other methods
that have and are still
being used are not acceptable from a Democratic country that should be
leading by good example. It does not mean that the bad guys need to be let
off,
it just means that any innocent should be..............and that is
certainly not possible
when using unacceptable practises. Fighting fire with fire will cause many
innocents to become entrapped, we should be above that by now.

The Middle East
The Middle East continues to blunder from one bad situation to anoyther ,
silly squabbles from all sides..............Perhaps it is time for a brave
Isreal to
hold out a big olive leaf and it is time the others took it in good grace
and started to
open doors and build rather than close doors and destroy.

Isreal seems to forget that it must be fair and
reasonable as now the Holocaust is
becoming a lame excuse for much that is happening today. The Palestininan
situation
should be resolved and the Arabic lands must unite with Isreal to build a
new peaceful
region and concentrate developing a tourist Industry rather than a
war industry.

Africa and the Third WorldGive aid to those at the bottom and assist them in what they want,
do not allow corrupt Governments and middle men a chance to lot our aid
Providing clean drinking water to a remote village directly is more
constructive.

The Catholic ChurchPerhaps the Catholic Church could condemn those who have sex
out of marriage but recommend that if they do behave in a 'sinful' way
that at least they should use some 'protection'.
Being practical and realistic is still possible whilst trying to preach
perfection...........

RussiaRussia could become a good country opening up to a market economy
and
still allowing Democracy to develop, why are these old Communists so
scared ?
Something about some Communists being more equal than other
Communists ?
Freedom of Speech is essential if Russia really wants to be a geat nation.
The West has taken it's eye of Russia because of George Bush 'forgetting ' about
it.
We should be very strong with Russia and yet also attempt to help them.........
the carrot and the stick method.
But we have allowed Russia to regain too many muscles
( especially in energy resources and bad attitudes )
without significant progress to become more Democratic.

Iraq again........... 6 August 2007How can the US lose almost 200,000 Guns in Iraq ?
Incompetence............................
I believe it was right to go into Iraq, although George Bush Senior should have
finished the job the first time round, but surely the incompetence of
George Bush junior's
administration is outrageous. Donald Rumsfield and Dick Cheney should be thrown
into Guatanomo Bay as punishment for their disgraceful actions....and
inactions.

September/October 2007

Iran/PersiaIt is to be hoped that the leader(s) of Iran
will
understand during their visit to the United Nations in
New York that they are permited to speak freely .............
perhaps they could allow their citizens the same rights inside
Iran.......................

Burma..............Without doubt, it must be possible for the world community , in
particular the United Nations
to inform any leader(s) that they must not just murder their citizens or
anyone else's citizens without
the kbnowledge that they will be chargede with murder and brought before the
Criminal courts.
Onl;y by this type of action will leaders of non democratic countries cease
these monstrous activities.
It is beyond belief that hundreds and thousands of Buddhist monks campaigning
with ordinary people
can just be arrested, beaten, locked up and probably secretly murdered and
the international community
seems incapable of stopping or preventing or bringing to account those
responsible.

Zinbabwe again
Those who have so often blamed the old Colonial powers for the the misery
in places such as we see in Africa, should now start to realise that there
has
been much more disasters happening created by African against
African
than eveerr happened during the Colonial period. The people in Zimbabwe
need our help, they need the help of the African Nations right now to get
there country and their live's back on course again. Mugabe should be
arrested by the International Community and placed on trial for his total
disgraceful
way he has treated most of his people. It is a crime.

2008

Focus on China.......
What a dilemma........
To attend the Olympics and hope to influence
or to Boycot as a protest ?Certainly we must really make it clear to China
that they must reform and change and we must be prepared to make
sacrifices to make that point, we should reward them for making
improvements and punish them if they do not.
Perhaps we should attend but still make it clear what we expect them to do
as sporting contacts are usually a good way to open the door,
however I suspect there will not be any significant changes in
China regarding human rights and Tibet until a new generation
of leaders comes through.

Zimbabwe againIt is very clear where the problem (s) rest in Zimbabwe
To still not release election results 3 weeks after it took place is blatently
wrong
To have a ship loaded with guns and ammunition trying to unload and
be sent into the country highlights the sheer hypocrisy of the leadership
there -
That the South African leader is so weak in influencing a better
attitude throughout Africa is also highlighted once again !
AND Why is China selling arms to Zimbabwe anyway ???

Dharfu Region againThe terrible admission that the number of those killed in this region
is
probably double the previous estimate is demonstrating how disgrafeful
most African Governments are not taking proper action in their own region.
Something tells me that even if Colonial rule was not perfect,
it was probably much better for most Africans than they have
seen in the years afterwards !!!!

The World Economy 1945 -2008One of the biggest problems is that The West has created economic
growth by population expansion through immigration . But we should have
helped more peoples in their own countries and achieved economic
growth from economic achievements rather than by immigration increases.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the famous lines that
Sir Winston Churchill used in praise of the
brave British, Commonwealth, Polish and other Pilots who had successfully
defended the skies of Britain against the German air attacks in
the summer of
1940 was : ''Never was so much owed by so many to so few''

Today we can look back and change his wonderful words and perhaps say :
''Never was so much harm done by so few to so many''
I am sure that none can be in doubt at the evil of those who
are responsible and must take the blame for these type of events.

It is our job to stop and
prevent these
things from happening again in the future !

InterpolInterpol exists to help create a safer world. Its aim
is to provide a unique range of essential services
for the law enforcement community to optimise
the International effort to combat crime.Interpol